Red filter with snow

[Giuseppe]

I've seen the very interesting Michael Kenna's video thanks to the link posted by Bob long ago but that I noticed only yesterday in the Art & Aesthetic section of the Forum.

I was surprised to see that M. Kenna uses a red filter to photograph snow landscapes on cloudy, actually snowing days. I'm puzzled, never thought that it is beneficial. Sometimes with snow on sunny days I used a yellow filter to counterbalance the blue hue reflected in shadows, but never a red filter.
Am I missing something?

Giuseppe

[Dave miller]

I'm with you on the use of a yellow filter, I assume that the use of red will enhance the contrast further.

[Richard Gould]

On the odd times I have photographed snow I have always tended to use a yellow filter, infact I tend to use a yellow filter for 90% of my landscape/seascape photographs,using an orange if I feel I need more contrast, and shy away from a red filter,Richard

[Andrew Bartram]

I would have thought the use of the red filter will darken any blue hues in shadows on sunny days, as well as darlening blue skies of course - thus increasing contrast.
On cloudy days though, not sure what the reasoning is either

Andrew

[Dave miller]

Originally Posted by Andrew Bartram

I would have thought the use of the red filter will darken any blue hues in shadows on sunny days, as well as darlening blue skies of course - thus increasing contrast.
On cloudy days though, not sure what the reasoning is either

Andrew

I think the idea is to increase contrast.

[Andrew Bartram]

So, with less blue light around - on cloudy days - the red filter is used to make the most of what there is? - where as a yellow filter would have a less pronounced effect

[Peter Hogan]

A filter lightens it's own colour, and darkens it's opposite. The opposite colour to red on the colour wheel is blue. On a very contrasty day the shadows (which comprise predominately blue light) will darken appreciably ( quite often producing 'black holes') On a 'flat' day there are still shadow areas, albeit not very pronounced, and they still contain blue light. A red filter, although likely to kill a photograph on a bright day, will maximise what ever contrast there is on a cloudy day. Without it, you'll end up with a flat
image, and wonder what went wrong...

[Fintan]

Originally Posted by Peter Hogan

A filter lightens it's own colour, and darkens it's opposite. The opposite colour to red on the colour wheel is blue. On a very contrasty day the shadows (which comprise predominately blue light) will darken appreciably ( quite often producing 'black holes') On a 'flat' day there are still shadow areas, albeit not very pronounced, and they still contain blue light. A red filter, although likely to kill a photograph on a bright day, will maximise what ever contrast there is on a cloudy day. Without it, you'll end up with a flat
image, and wonder what went wrong...

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.

[kennethcooke]

Originally Posted by Giuseppe

I've seen the very interesting Michael Kenna's video thanks to the link posted by Bob long ago but that I noticed only yesterday in the Art & Aesthetic section of the Forum.

I was surprised to see that M. Kenna uses a red filter to photograph snow landscapes on cloudy, actually snowing days. I'm puzzled, never thought that it is beneficial. Sometimes with snow on sunny days I used a yellow filter to counterbalance the blue hue reflected in shadows, but never a red filter.
Am I missing something?

Giuseppe

I used to use a red filter regularly in snow in alpine regions to good effect and funnily enough I used one the other day when in fresh snow conditions and bright sky, locally

[Andrew Bartram]

Originally Posted by Peter Hogan

A filter lightens it's own colour, and darkens it's opposite. The opposite colour to red on the colour wheel is blue. On a very contrasty day the shadows (which comprise predominately blue light) will darken appreciably ( quite often producing 'black holes') On a 'flat' day there are still shadow areas, albeit not very pronounced, and they still contain blue light. A red filter, although likely to kill a photograph on a bright day, will maximise what ever contrast there is on a cloudy day. Without it, you'll end up with a flat
image, and wonder what went wrong...

That's what I said....but not so well as Peter